Manufacturers of telecommunication equipment for interfacing a digital communication network with an end user's data terminal equipment (DTE) customarily offer a digital communication arrangement of the type shown in FIG. 1. This arrangement contains a digital telecommunication network-terminating (T1/E1) framer 10, a data pump 20 which interfaces with the framer and connects to the customer's data terminal equipment, and a control processor 30, which controls the operation of the framer and the data pump. Because the high price of the framer chip is inordinately high, manufacturers of DTE subsystem equipment have been unable to offer their customers subsystem arrangements that might otherwise provide greater versatility and selective functionality, without entailing a substantial cost burden (associated with the sole source of the framer chip).